Quality Payment Scheme (QPS) 2017

Under the new community pharmacy contract the government announced a Quality Payment Scheme (QPS) for community pharmacies.

Your LPC is working towards helping you meet the criteria for the QPS and to that end we have now set up a series of web pages with information about the scheme. As more information becomes available these pages will be updated and in addition we will be sending out regular updates to our mailing list.

If you do not currently receive our LPC newsletters and QPS updates you can sign up to the mailing list by completing your details in the bottom left corner of the website footer. You can also view back issues on this website on the QPS newsletter page.

The information on this page is based on information from PSNC website. You will find comprehensive resources available for pharmacy contractors and their teams to access at PSNC Quality Payments

The QPS scheme is voluntary – contractors do not need to engage with it – but PSNC recommends that all contractors should seek to meet as many of the QPS criteria as possible. Contractors that successfully meet the requirements will receive Quality Payments which will be funded from a pot that is part of the overall community pharmacy funding budget

All pharmacies on the pharmaceutical list in England (excluding Local Pharmaceutical Services (LPS) contracts) are eligible to take part in the Quality Payments Scheme, including pharmacies that are part of the Pharmacy Access Scheme (PhAS) and distance selling pharmacies.

Pharmacy staff at the pharmacy must be able to send and receive NHS mail. Deadline approaching. Urgent action needed

Contractor must be able to demonstrate ongoing utilisation of Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) at the pharmacy premises.

Payments under the scheme do not start until April 2017, but contractors should start to prepare for the scheme ASAP.

The assessment of whether a criterion has been met will need to be made in relation to two review points – 28th April 2017 and 24th November 2017.

Criterion is either met or not met, contractors can not claim to have met 50% of the criterion and claim a part payment; you achieve all of the points for a particular criterion at the assessment date or none of the points.

Some of the criteria are claimable in both April AND November, some are claimable once i.e. April OR November so you should prioritise.

Once a contractor has made the decision to take part in the Quality Payments Scheme, we recommend that they start to work towards achieving the points as quickly as possible:

Decide which Quality Payments criteria you plan to meet and by which review pointConsider the costs you are likely to incur to achieve each criterion; some will take more time to achieve and staff resource (e.g. Health Living Pharmacy (HLP) level 1), and some are much more complex than others.

Develop a timed plan for achieving the gateway and quality criteriaDeveloping a timed plan will help contractors and their teams to ensure they have plenty of time to achieve all the criteria that they intend to meet. Consider which criteria you will find easiest to achieve and which can be claimed at both review points – these should probably be your early priorities.

More QPS information pages can be found on the Resources tab

There are several pages on our website with more information – see the menu for links to info on QPS nhs.net email, safeguarding, HLP, dementia friends, NHS Coices, Asthma review, patient safety reports, patient questionnaire, SCR, NHS 111, NUMSAS, etc along with information on how to claim the payments.

In addition our regular update newsletter will have latest information and give you ideas of how to prioritise your plan to help you ensure that you meet the criteria and qualify for these payments.